


The Scent of Cloves

by curiouselfqueen



Series: Holiday One-Shots [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Hogwarts, Post-War, Sirius Black Lives, christmas feels in spring, communal living at Grimmauld Place, relationship is open to interpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:08:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24818902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouselfqueen/pseuds/curiouselfqueen
Summary: Original prompt: Sirmione & Christmas scented candleThis was meant to be a Holiday one-shot then I didn't write it until April... now I'm posing here at least a year later...
Relationships: Sirius Black & Hermione Granger, Sirius Black/Hermione Granger
Series: Holiday One-Shots [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1001544
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	The Scent of Cloves

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Calebski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calebski/gifts).



Sirius looked up from his book, sniffing the air. There was something new… Granted, almost everything was new in Grimmauld Place now. After that bout of collective hysteria (which he started), they had nearly destroyed the place. Only magic had kept the building standing. So they gutted and rebuilt the entire place over the last year.

This smell was different though… It was slightly familiar yet seemed out of place. Convinced it wasn’t emanating from the library, he stood and walked to the door. Opening it, bright colours caught his eye. A wreath of tulips was hanging on the door handle. Sirius chuckled as he picked it up, and placed it on his head. So Luna had been by, but it wasn’t the flowers he was smelling…

Lead by his nose, Sirius took deep breaths trying to identify the fragrance while letting his instinct lead him to it. Down the hall, deeper into the house. He paused slightly in front of each door, swaying from one side of the hall to the other. Not the game room, not the soon-to-be-nursery. The sent was almost spicy, like cloves. Yet the kitchen was in the opposite direction and a floor below.

Finally, he paused in front of Hermione’s office. Well, it was “the” office of the house, but Hermione was really the only one who used it. The fragrance was seeping from out of the edges of the door. He was sure this was it. Curiosity getting the better of him instead of being satisfied with this much information, Sirius lightly rapped on the door and opened it softly.

Quiet piano music reached his ears as the unmistakable scent of pine, cloves and a little bit of, was that cranberry and orange? filled his senses. Hermione was curled up on the lounge with a book in the softly lit room. A candle glowed on the table next to her.

“Sirius?”

His eyes darted from the candle to her eyes where he stared for a moment. His mind went blank. What had he been doing here?

“I…” He shook his head a little, blinked, and looked at Hermione again, this time noting the amused half-smile upon her lips. She wasn’t staring quite at him though, and as he looked away, ran his fingers through his hair, catching on the flower crown he had forgotten he was wearing. Chuckling, he looked back at his favourite witch.

“I - I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disrupt your… evening,” he said as his hand pulled at his neck. “I just - Padfoot smelled something out of place and I was trying to figure out what it was.”

Hermione looked about the room slightly puzzled before registering the candle.

“Oh! It must be my candle, I can put it out if you like, I know it’s a little silly to be burning a Christmas candle in April-”

“Hermione,” Sirius said as he began walking into the room.

“-it’s just so cosy and the pine scent is oddly comforting although you’d think-”

“Hermione,” he said again, sitting on the couch next to her.

“Hmm?”

“I like it. It’s nice.”

“Oh,” she said. “Good.”

Sirius leaned back in the couch, holding up his book. “Mind if I join you in here for the rest of the night?”

“Of course not,” she said, still a little stiffly. She sat back against the couch again, but not quite curled up as she had been before. Sirius got comfortable, rested his open book against his knee and took a deep breath, stretching his arm across the back of the lounge.

By the time the fire died out, Hermione was leaning against Sirius, his fingers gently playing with her curls while they had been taking turns reading each other passages.


End file.
